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they hold unforgettable, that which records for and impresses upon the ruling faculty of the soul the pure beauty, the desire for divine love.

Since, therefore, these things are in this way, and the discourse has in some way aimed at the truth from the interpretation of the names; every mind, in the manner of Hezekiah, girt with divine power, possesses certain elders and rulers, as it were: both the rational power, from which gnostic faith is naturally born; by which it is taught ineffably that God is always present; and through hope it associates with future things as if they were present; and the desiderative power, according to which divine love is constituted; through which, having willingly nailed itself to the longing for the pure divinity, it has an indissoluble desire for the longed-for. Furthermore, also the irascible power, by which it holds fast to the divine peace, astringing the movement of desire towards divine love. And every mind has these powers working with it, both for the destruction of wickedness and for the constitution and preservation of virtue; as elders, because they are the first powers of the soul and complementary to its substance; and as rulers, because they both have the principle of their own movements and, by the will of the moving mind, the authority over the activities under them. These both counsel it and strengthen it, that it might block up also the waters of the springs, which were outside the city; or rather, to speak more properly, which are. For that which has passed in history is always mystically present through contemplation.

Having these powers healthy and un-deceivable, he gathers the great people, clearly the pious movements and thoughts from them according to nature. But the waters outside the city, that is, of the soul, which make the river that runs through the middle of the city, are the thoughts which, according to natural contemplation, are conveyed and flow into the soul through each sense from its corresponding sensible object; from which a rational account is composed, passing through the soul as a city, like a river of the knowledge of sensible things; as long as the soul has this passing through it, it does not cast off the images and impressions of sensible things; through which the wicked and destructive power, standing over it, is wont to make war against it.

(452) Wherefore Hezekiah says: Lest the king of Assur come, and find much water, and prevail; as if the discerning mind were saying to its own powers in the time of the uprising of the passions. Let us cease from natural contemplation, and let us turn only to prayer and to the hardship of the body according to practical philosophy; of which, the king's ascent into the temple of God bore the type of prayer; and the wearing of sackcloth, of bodily hardship; lest with the thoughts of sensible things, the evil one, hiding, wickedly summon also the forms and shapes of sensible things; through which the passions are wont to be created concerning the surfaces of visible things, when the passage toward intelligible things of the rational activity in us comes to a halt through the mediation of sense, and he prevail to sack the city, that is, the soul; and drag it down into Babylon, I mean, the confusion of the passions.

He, therefore, who in time of the uprising of the passions has nobly closed his senses, and completely pushed away the imagination and memory of sensible things, and in every way constrained the natural movements of the mind concerning the investigation of external things, has, in the manner of Hezekiah, blocked up the waters of the springs which are outside the city; and cut off the river that flows through the middle of the city, the aforementioned powers having strengthened him; and of the great people gathered, I mean the pious reasonings according to each power, and having conquered through the divine hand, he put to shame the wicked and tyrannical dominion that rose up against him; through the divine command, as through a certain angel, of the logos that is naturally able to destroy the passions, having slain the one hundred and eighty-five thousand; that is, the productive

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ἀνεπίληστον ἔχουσι, τῆς τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπομνηματογραφούσης τε καί ἐντυπούσης τό ἀκήρατον κάλλος, τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τήν ἔφεσιν.

Ἐπειδή τοίνυν ταῦτα τοῦτον ἔχει τόν τρόπον, καί ποσῶς ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑρμηνείας κατεστοχάσατο τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος· πᾶς νοῦς κατά τόν Ἐζεκίαν θείῳ κράτει διεζωσμένος, καθάπερ πρεσβυτέρους τινάς καί ἄρχοντας κέκτηται· τήν τε λογικήν δύναμιν, ἐξ ἧς ἡ γνωστική γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκε πίστις· καθ᾿ ἥν ἀεί παρόντα τόν Θεόν ἀῤῥήτως διδάσκεται· καί ὡς παροῦσι συγγίνεται διά τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῖς μέλλουσι· καί τήν ἐπιθυμητικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ θεία συνέστηκεν ἀγάπη· δι᾿ ἧς ἑκουσίως ἑαυτόν προσηλώσας τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ἀκηράτου θεότητος, ἄλυτον ἔχει τοῦ ποθουμένου τήν ἔφεσιν. Ἔτι μήν καί τήν θυμικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀπρίξ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης ἀντέχεται, ἐπιστύφων πρός τόν θεῖον ἔρωτα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τήν κίνησιν. Ταύτας δέ ἔχει τάς δυνάμεις πᾶς νοῦς συνεργούσας αὐτῷ, πρός τε τήν τῆς κακίας καθαίρεσιν καί τήν τῆς ἀρετῆς σύστασίν τε καί συντήρησιν· ὡς μέν πρεσβυτέρους, ὅτι πρῶται τῆς ψυχῆς καί συμπληρωτικαί τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας δυνάμεις ὑπάρχουσιν· ὡς ἄρχοντας δέ, ὅτι καί τῶν ἐξ αὐτῶν κινημάτων ἔχουσι τήν ἀρχήν, καί τῶν ὑφ᾿ αὐτάς ἐνεργημάτων βουλήσει τοῦ κινοῦντος νοός τήν ἐξουσίαν. Αὗται, καί συμβουλεύουσιν αὐτῷ, καί συνεπισχύουσιν, ἵνα ἐμφράξῃ καί ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, ἅ ἦν ἐξω τῆς πόλεως· μᾶλλον δέ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, ὑπάρχουσιν. Ἀεί γάρ τό διά τῆς ἱστορίας παρελθόν, ὡς παρόν μυστικῶς διά τῆς θεωρίας ἐνέστηκε.

Ταύτας ἔχων ὑγιεῖς κα ἀνεξαπατήτους, συνάγει τόν πολύν λαόν, τά ἐξ αὐτῶν εὐδεβῆ δῆλον ὅτι κατά φύσιν κινήματά τε καί διανοήματα. Ὕδατα δέ τά ἐξω τῆς πόλεως, τουτέστι τῆς ψυχῆς, τά ποιοῦντα τόν ποταμόν τόν διορίζοντα διά μέσου τῆς πόλεως, εἰσί τά κατά τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν δι᾿ ἑκάστης αἰσθήσεως ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ αυτήν αἰσθητοῦ παραπεμπόμενά τε καί εἰσρέοντα τῇ ψυχῇ νοήματα· ἐξ ὧν ὁ διερχόμενος ὡς πόλιν τήν ψυχήν, τῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐσπιστήμης ποταμοῦ δίκην· ἀποτελεῖται λόγος· ὅν ἕως ἔχῃ διερχόμενον αὐτήν ἡ ψυχή, οὐκ ἀποβάλλεται τάς τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰκόνας τε καί φαντασίας· δι᾿ ὧν ἐφισταμένη πολεμεῖν αὐτήν πέφυκεν ἡ πονηρά καί ὀλέθριος δύναμις.

(452) ∆ιό φησιν Ἐζεκίας· Μή ἔλθῃ βασιλεύς Ἀσσούρ, καί εὕρῃ ὕδωρ πολύ, καί κατισχύσῃ· ὡσανεί ἔλεγε ὁ διαγνωστικός νοῦς ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεσιν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐπαναστάσεως. Παυσώμεθα τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας, καί μόνῃ προσχωρήσωμεν τῇ προσευχῆ, καί τῇ κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν κακοπαθείᾳ τοῦ σώματος· ὧν, τῆς μέν προσευχῆς, ἡ εἰς τόν ναόν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνοδος τοῦ βασιλέως ἔφερε τύπον· τῆς δέ σωματικῆς κακοπαθείας, ἡ τοῦ σάκκου περιβολή· μήπως τοῖς τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοήμασι, συνεισκαλεῖ κακούργως λαθών ὁ πονηρός, τά τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἴδη καί σχήματα· δι᾿ ὧν πέφυκε τά πάθη δημιουργεῖσθαι περί τάς ἐπιφανείας τῶν ὁρατῶν, στάσιν λαμβανούσης διά τῆς μέσης αἰσθήσεως τῆς πρός τά νοητά διαβάσεως, τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν λογικῆς ἐνεργείας, καί κατισχύσῃ πορθῆσαι τήν πόλιν, τουτέστιν, τήν ψυχήν· καί εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, λέγω δέ τήν παθῶν σύγχυσιν, κατασύρῃ.

Ὁ τοίνυν ἐν καιρῷ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐπαναστάσεως γενναίως μύσας τάς αἰσθήσεις, καί τήν τῶν αἰσθητῶν φαντασίαν τε καί μνήμην παντελῶς ἀπωσάμενος, καί συστείλας πάντη τάς τοῦ νοῦ περί τήν τῶν ἐκτός ἔρευναν φυσικάς κινήσεις, κατά τόν Ἐζεκίαν ἐνέφραξε τά ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν ἅ ἐστιν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως· καί τόν διορίζοντα διά μέσου τῆς πόλεως ποταμόν διέκοψε, συνεπισχυσασῶν αὐτῷ τῶν εἰρημένων δυνάμεων· καί τοῦ συναχθέντος λαοῦ πολλοῦ, φημί δή τῶν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην δύναμιν εὐσεβῶν λογισμῶν, καί κατῄσχυνε νικήσας διά τῆς θείας χειρός, τήν ἐπαναστᾶσαν αὐτῷ πονηράν καί τυραννικήν δυναστείαν· διά τοῦ θείου προστάγματος, ὡς δι᾿ ἀγγέλου τινός, τοῦ διαφθείρειν τά πάθη πεφυκότος λόγου, ἀποκτείνας τάς ἑκατόν καί ὀγδοήκοντα καί πέντε χιλιάδας· τουτέστι, τήν ποιητικήν